"There's Your Next Blog"

It’s time for another trip.  This one will be a little different in that it involves suitcases and less space than what we are afforded in Wanda our van.

Packing in Wanda is basically moving clothes from a drawer in the house to a drawer in a van.  We do have to plan for variable weather and only take a portion of the clothes we own, but it seems so simple compared to a suitcase.  A suitcase makes you second-guess every item.

As I considered how to consolidate items and minimize what I’m carrying, I knew I wanted to switch to a smaller camera bag.  With my latest equipment I had also expanded the bag to accommodate a longer lens, a small tripod, and other accessories.  Now that was looking too bulky for stowing on a crowded airplane.

I remembered that years ago when we flew to Europe, I had a small, gray camera bag.  Of course, I used different photography equipment then too, but I wanted to at least test the bag to see if it could hold the essentials. 

I asked Jenni if she knew where to start looking for the bag.  She said “either the study, the closet upstairs, or the attic”.  The first two were quick strike-outs, but the attic ALWAYS holds potential.  We put A LOT of stuff up there.

I climbed the pull-down stairs into the attic (and actually remembered to take up an item that had been waiting for its turn a couple weeks). I grabbed the spotlight and began searching for the camera bag.  This would not be a simple task since it would require opening suitcases that were stored in the attic.  I quickly became distracted as I unzipped one tote bag because it had two memory-foam neck pillows perfect for air travel.  SCORE! 

But back to the purpose of the climb upstairs.  I completed my superficial – I mean THOROUGH – search with no luck.  As I was about to step down, I glanced one more time at the rack where we store the suitcases.  Is that what I THINK it is???

Yes!

Tucked away on the suitcase rack was the wooden card table I wrote about LAST THANKSGIVING—the one I convinced Jenni we had given to charity.  (If any of you are still looking for it, it’s okay to stop.)

Jenni met me as I came down the stairs and asked if I found the camera bag.  I told her no.  I think I convinced her that we likely gave it to charity during one of our recent purges.  (That seems to have worked in the past.)

Then, I told her that I DID find the wooden card table.  We laughed.

“Well, there’s your next blog,” she said.